Monday, January 13, 2014

Blogathon Day 13: Things that were cool 10 years ago


There were things that cool folks did and showed off. And the rest of us just looked in awe. But then came a flood of herd mentality and too many people started doing those things, so much so, that even the perpetual "chomu" also managed to get his hands into these. That's when these things stopped being cool. The list is below. If you have been doing any of these things for less than 6 years, chances are you are in the herd. But then, who am I to stereotype anyone?

#1 Sporting a goatee

Despite the odd fitting leather pants and super tight shirts that made the look unbelievable, the goatee on Aamir Khan in Dil Chahta Hai proved to be a far bigger fashion trend than Kajol's hairband in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. From being a metrosexual man's mane, it went on to become the small town low cost fashion statement. There came different variations of it to gel with Chomu sense of style. And thats when it stopped being cool.


#2 Owning a DSLR

The price tag on DSLRs kept the herd away from these for a long time. Only the rich and famous could afford it. But facebook put so much pressure to put up great pictures every few days, that people started cutting eating-out bills to save up for the camera. Once purchased, albums with names such as "random clicks", "just like that", "my experiments with my camera"etc etc. littered facebook walls full of meaningless half cropped, modified and filtered images.

#3 Running a marathon

Not everyone could dream of running a marathon, not even a half one. Firstly there were not so many. Only few towns in India organized these and had limited participation. But then with free corporate sponsorship and marathons being held in every city, town, mohalla, and locality, everyone finds a marathon or two to run in. Even if you do a 3 to 6 km dream run, you could post a picture with a number pasted across your chest!

#4 Holiday in Europe

Going to Europe for a holiday was a thing for politicians, film stars and Ambanis earlier. But now thanks to Kesari travels, even old uncles and aunties have group tours in under 1.5 lakhs!






Given all the then cool things are out of question, wonder what are the cool people doing now? Entering politics maybe.

5 comments:

MaNi said...

I had a goatee.. have a DSLR, am running this marathon and I have holidayed in Europe...

"Chomu" am I? :)

Archana said...

Oh god, so agree, especially on the DSLR and the names of the albums!

The Head Over Heels said...

Mani.. You are cool as long as you believe you are. Nothing else defines cool! And I think you are ;).

PS: Do you have an album named "random clicks" as well?

MaNi said...

No.. that folder is not named "Random clicks".. it is named Captured!!!

Basically the essence was same..

Had started it to track my improvement over the time.. stopped it later.. flooded FB with lots of shaadi pics.. now stopped taking pics only...

https://www.facebook.com/manipradhan/media_set?set=a.420823066794.195486.636886794&type=3

Anshika said...

Love it..so agree with DSLR...everyone has them now including me :P But guess my favourite part was "chomu" in the blog hahaha!